The wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles, California have caused unprecedented destruction since they first started on January 7, 2025. A little over a week later, the CalFire website says that to date 24 people have died, 40,660 hectares have burned, and over 12,300 buildings have been destroyed. The city's residents are in both shock and mourning as they face an uncertain future of rebuilding and further disaster - because these fires are not yet fully contained, and new fires could start at any moment.

Amidst all this, the film industry that the city has been home to for more than a century is wearily moving forward. Movies must be made, released and promoted to ensure that this terrible start to 2025 isn't compounded by a significant drop in the box office. It is a dire need. But are the Oscars a necessity?

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards next Thursday (they were originally scheduled to be revealed tomorrow), it will be hard for anyone to look forward to a major personal achievement while so many colleagues are relying on GoFundMes to give a little boost as they begin the long road to rebuilding. Given the unpredictability of these fires, it's impossible to know where we'll be from one day to the next, so it's possible that if the situation continues as it is or, God forbid, it gets worse, AMPAS will drop celebrity announcements and reveal all nominees via press release.

No matter what happens, there will be those who say the March 2 Oscar ceremony should be canceled. It's an option that many people have been quietly discussing over the past week, and now Stephen King has shifted it to the first man.

On Wednesday, King, who is a member of the Academy, took to Bluesky to express his opposition to holding the Oscars this year. "No voting at the Oscars this year," King wrote. "IMHO they should cancel them. No shine with Los Angeles on fire."

King's point is well taken, and he won't be alone in that, but there is a potential financial downside to a complete cleanup of the Oscars. Movies like Substance, "Sing Sing", "Hard Truths" and "Nickel Boys" are hoping for an increase in visibility as well as an increase in business (there are reruns for several candidates planned over the next few weeks), all of which will be wiped out if AMPAS decides to go unceremoniously or remove the ballot altogether. I don't know how this will shake out, but it's a dilemma the film industry will struggle with even after/if the wildfires are contained. Who wants to take off a tuxedo and stroke their ego on the red carpet at the Oscars when, just two months before, so many friends have lost everything?

The argument for this year's Oscars will likely hinge on the fact that they managed to hold a ceremony amid the COVID-19 pandemic while major metropolitan hospitals were loading corpses into refrigerated holding units. The show must go on, right? Maybe. It will be interesting to see how Hollywood reacts over the next few months.